


A Life for a Life, Right? (temporary)

by awesome_tomboy



Category: Yu Yu Hakusho
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-29
Updated: 2016-03-11
Packaged: 2018-05-26 00:02:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6215548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awesome_tomboy/pseuds/awesome_tomboy





	A Life for a Life, Right? (temporary)

Hiei hid, in one of the many trees that hung about in front of Kurama's school. Time was ticking, and Hiei was sure that his school was almost out. He'd been waiting for the past 15 minutes. He didn't want to be late. Kurama didn't know that Hiei waited for him after every school day, as Hiei never perked up enough courage to jump down and say hey. He told himself it was because he didn't want to embarrass Kurama, but he knew there was a different reason. He refused to admit it, though, even to himself.

Hiei heard the bell rang, but human children didn't start running out of the school doors until a minute after. Hiei always wondered what sort of torture took place inside those buildings. Yusuke never wanted to go, and all the students seemed to run for their lives afterward. His eyes narrowed. 'If they even laid a finger on Kurama...', He thought, his hand instinctively going to his sword.

But then he saw bright red hair in the sea of bland students. Hiei knew who that was. He crouched, and hid himself further in the leaves of the tree. He watched as Kurama walked, his nose in a book, toward the exit of the school. Meaning, he would walk right past the tree that Hiei was taking refuge in. Well, unless he stopped or was stopped.

One could say luck was on Hiei's side, as Kurama was stopped. But maybe the situation would've turned out a bit better if he had just continued walking.

"Hey Shuuichi!" A female student walked over to Kurama, and stopped in front of him. Kurama lowered his book, and smiled kindly. Hiei narrowed his eyes in dismay. Kurama was acting strangely.

"Why hello, Misao." Kurama said, still holding his book in one hand. Hiei could almost see the excitement in the student. Although they weren't even facing him. Now Hiei was annoyed. Who the hell did this... human girl... think she was doing? She was talking to Kurama, once Youko Kurama, a legendary demon! And what was that she called him, Sweet Chi? Hiei's eyes widened. No way... Hiei's hand tightened around the hilt of his sword.

The girl, who Kurama introduced as Misao, giggled. Kurama continued to smile softly, but Hiei was sure hoping that he was just putting on a mask as not to anger the human children.

"Well, um, I was wondering," The girl asked, holding her hands in front of her, almost... blushing? She looked to her left, at a group of 3 other girls who seemed to be egging her on. It was really starting to piss Hiei off. "I was wondering if you wanted to come with me and some others to the arcade." It took all of Hiei's willpower not to laugh, let alone fall out of the tree laughing. Really? Was that what she was leading up to?!

"Maybe some other time, sorry." Kurama said, leaving Misao sad. "I have to finish this book. But, maybe some other time." Kurama smiled again, but pulled his book up to reading level. He started to walk past her. When Misao didn't say anything, he gave up the nice kid act and walked toward the gate. Hiei watched as Kurama, his head back into his book, walk away from the poor human girl, and couldn't help breaking a smirk.

Kurama thought nothing of it, as he walked toward the exit. Hiei watched, still from up in the tree. Kurama exited the school, took a left, and quick as a flash Hiei followed. Tree after tree, Hiei followed Kurama, silently. Then Kurama stopped, in the middle of an empty sidewalk.

"Hiei, what are you doing here?" Kurama asked, not even looking at the black and white warrior who was perched on a nearby tree. "Again." He added, as Hiei grinned. Hiei jumped out of the tree, landing in front of Kurama.

"Your friends are just so entertaining, Kurama. What did that one call you, Sweetie?" Hiei mocked. Kurama narrowed his eyes, but couldn't help smirking.

"She called me Shuuichi, Hiei." Kurama retorted. "It's the name my human mother gave me, and therefore the one other humans know me by. It would be strange if humans started knowing me as Kurama, let alone Yoko." A breeze came through the street, making Kurama's hair fly off to the right.

Hiei narrowed his eyes; He didn't like being wrong. "Your human mother has no taste in names." He pouted, turning his head off slightly to the left. This earned a smirk, and a small laugh from Kurama. "What?" Hiei asked in annoyance.

"Oh nothing," Kurama said, trying to conceal his laughter. Hiei wasn't fooled, though.

"Shut up, fox-boy." Hiei said, obviously annoyed. Yet in a way Hiei was humored too. Kurama had always been a bit of a genius, in many regards. Top of the class student, in all occasions. Plus, he could make Hiei smile and even laugh. Almost an impossible feat for that stone-faced, egocentric, and slightly sadistic, demon.

This earned a smirk from Kurama who managed to calm his laughter down. Hiei couldn’t help but smirk back. Then there was silence, and neither of them made any stand on trying to break it. Hiei’s eyes averted for a second from Kurama’s, only to see the brick wall behind him. At this point, the smirks had disappeared from both of their faces.

“Kurama,” Hiei started, a hint of concern in his voice.

“Hiei, it’s been getting worse.” Kurama said, now serious. “It’s my Youko energy.”

Hiei’s eyes widened, but only slightly. “Your Youko energy? You mean, you’ve found a way to use it in your human form?” Hiei may have been mistaken for excited, but truthfully he was rather appalled. “Don’t tell me they feel it..” He said, hoping the human’s couldn’t detect it.

Kurama looked down at Hiei, sorrow and perhaps anger in his eyes. “Yes, Hiei. Without knowing it, they’ve sensed it. They still can’t comprehend it, so they shrug it off,”

‘Stupid humans’, thought Hiei. One of the many things one might undoubtedly find in Hiei’s mind at least 10 times a day.

“But that’s not the issue..” Kurama paused, like he almost regretted bring it up. Hiei frowned; Kurama usually thought things out before bringing them to the table. He didn’t usually stop to think while explaining. “The issue is that it seems like Youko is a whole different person now. And instead of being a part of me, it seems like he wants to take over me.”

Hiei’s eyes widened at this. After all the times he’d worked with Kurama, he’d never seen him this worried before. Isn’t the obvious choice to just let Youko return? Wasn’t that the whole point of being human anyway, to regain enough energy to revert back?

“I know what you’re thinking. You have that dumb look on your face again.” Hiei glowered at that, and Kurama smirked. “But it’s different now.” Different? How? “Youko’s changed just as much as I have. I found some things in the human world that I never could’ve found if I had been Youko forever. Plus..” He stopped again.

In Kurama’s eyes, Hiei saw sorrow. Perhaps even a bit of fear. That mixture of feelings, coming from Kurama, almost scared Hiei. What could possibly be so terrifying that it could scare even Kurama?

“Plus, it would mean that I would forget about anything I did as a human.” Kurama finished. The wind whistled around them both for a few seconds, while Hiei processed that. Nothing? He would forget about Yusuke, Botan, and even… And even Hiei.

Hiei closed 2 of his eyes, his Jagan eye still open. “Kurama, you know what you have to do. This was your long term goal. You can’t give up on it now.” Kurama frowned.

“You just don’t get it Hiei.” Kurama said, blatantly. Hiei looked up, alarmed. He’d never heard such annoyance in his voice before. “I’d rather die than leave the memories I made here go. I’ve felt feelings that I’ll never would’ve felt if it hadn’t been for this world. From my human mother, from Yusuke, and even from you Hiei. Those memories are more precious to me than the power of Youko Kurama. They’re more precious to me than even my old goals.”

Hiei was struck. He didn’t know how to respond. Kurama seemed so… Lost. Like a young child. God, human life had really rubbed off on him. “Kurama,” He said softly, but didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t find any words that would help the situation.

‘How could you give up on me, Shuuichi..?’ Kurama’s heart skipped a beat. His eyes were wide with fear. Hiei noticed, and Kurama’s fear triggered a sense of insecurity in him too.

“Kurama.” Hiei said, trying to snap him out of it. Kurama looked blank-faced, and pale, staring through Hiei like he wasn’t there.

“It’s Youko again,” Kurama said in an airy voice. Hiei had never heard Kurama that way before. Such fear, and coming from Kurama…

“Kurama you have to block him out.” Hiei said, shaking aside the fear that was slowly growing in him too. Kurama’s eyes widened in surprise at that. Knowing Hiei, he had thought that he would’ve egged Youko on. But no…

“Hiei..” Kurama started, but was stopped by the cold voice of Youko inside his head.

‘You wouldn’t give me up just for memories of worthless humans, would you? That and some traitor scum.’

Kurama’s fear returned, as he and Youko fought a mind battle for control. Kurama fell to his knees, gripping his head. “Get out!” He yelled, out loud.

Hiei stepped back, not sure what to make of the frightened Kurama. He’d never seen Kurama like that. “Kurama, wake up…” He said, almost pleading. “Kurama, Kurama!” Hiei crouched down and grabbed Kurama’s shoulders. “Fight it Kurama, fight it!” A feeling Hiei’s never felt before built up in him. A feeling of fear, and pain. But he had no wound. He’d never felt this type of pain before.

“Kurama!” Hiei cried out at Kurama, who was staring blankly at the ground, his hands pulling at his rose-red hair. The sky above began to darken, covering up the sun by gray clouds. The light was slowly being sapped away from the already dark situation.

‘These human emotions are really messing up my plans, Shuuichi. Give me back what is mine, and I will be powerful.’

“No!” Kurama yelled, losing control of even his emotions. He fought, but he felt his grip loosening.

‘You idiot. Did you not realize that after all those years locked inside your human emotions and body, I concocted a plan of how to break through? I’m going to win this, Shuuichi. There’s no way you can come out of this successfully. I will achieve my goal. And you cannot stop me.’

Kurama processed to words of Youko, knowing them to be true, but afraid to believe. He couldn’t be right.

A splash of gray-white hair appeared in the mass of red. Youko was beginning to take over. Hiei stared, without power, as Youko and Kurama fought a deathmatch inside their head. And there was nothing Hiei could do as his partner-in-crime was slowly torn apart from the inside out.

“Kurama..” Hiei whispered, losing all willpower even to tense his muscles. He lost control of his body, and he sat, glazed eyes, depressed and angry. He was so… Powerless. He was losing the one person he ever really could’ve cared about. And there was nothing he could do.

“Kurama, fight it,” Hiei said, knowing full well that it wouldn’t do any good. “Kurama fight it. I know you can…” Hiei paused, and the feeling of pain inside him turned to sadness.

“Do you remember when I first fought Yusuke? And you got in my way…?” Hiei said, trying hard not to let any of his pain show. “I couldn’t hurt you. I had to stop my punches from killing you. That was my only thought when you jumped in to save him.” Hiei was done hiding.

“Without you, Kurama, Yusuke would be dead. Without you, I would be in a jail cell in Spirit World right now. Without you, your human mother would be dead too. And without you…” Hiei paused, tears swelling in his eyes. “I’m as good as dead for the rest of my life. So, for all of us, fight him. Fight him, and win.”

A light flickered in Kurama’s green eyes. “Hiei…” Kurama whispered, but Hiei heard. He looked at the red haired demon, and waited. “Hiei, I’m sorry.”

Hiei’s eyes widened, and he couldn’t hold his tears back. “Kurama!!” Hiei yelled, as red turned to white and green turned to gold. It was over. Kurama was gone.

Both Kurama, or Youko, and Hiei were still for nearly 20 seconds. Hiei’s tears stopped falling, trying not to comprehend the situation. It all had to be part of some dream. Some evil dream. Youko, however, had different plans.

“Isn’t it nice to be alive!” The white-haired demon cried out happily. Laughing, he got to his feet, ignoring the angry Hiei who sat on the ground not knowing what to do.

“Kurama…” He said, softly, knowing he was gone. A tear drop fell onto Hiei’s bandaged arm, and Hiei turned to look. Hiei had never before felt that much pain before. His hands gripped themselves into fists.

Wiping the tears from his eyes, he stood up facing towards Youko’s back. He moved one of his hands to his sword, and his red eyes suddenly became angry. His energy became visible with rage, and a feeling of pure hate overcame him.

“Kurama…” He said, his eyes burning with hate for Youko. One could almost see the smile on Youko’s face when he heard those words. He pulled his sword out, and held it in front of him.

“You wouldn’t kill me.” Youko said, calmly and amused. Hiei stopped dead in his tracks. This was not Kurama. “You can’t kill me.” Youko smirked at the agony Hiei was feeling.

“Oh I can kill you alright. I can kill you and anyone who touches Kurama. Who uses Kurama. I can kill any stupid bastard who thinks he can get away with that.” Hiei grabbed his sword, and his dark demon energy wrapped around it like a snake. “Give him back!!” He yelled as he ran to stab at Youko. Right when he was about to stab he heard a voice, though.

“Stop, Hiei!” Hiei was frozen, his sword nearly and inch away from Youko’s back. That was Kurama’s voice. Kurama’s real voice. He was still alive somewhere.

“Kurama! Kurama where are you!?” Hiei cried, as he let his weapon fall as he searched all around him for signs of the red-headed demon.

“Hiei…” The voice was coming from Youko himself. Hiei’s eyes widened. He grabbed his sword from the ground, and held it back up in front of him.

“Hiei, I fought.” A strip of red hair began to reappear in all the gray. Hiei noticed a few drops of blood splatter onto the ground in front of Youko. “I fought it, and I won.” Then he collapsed. Hiei’s eyes widened. “Kurama!” He yelled, and he ran over to his side. Blood was dripping from his mouth, and his hair was returning to its red and normal state.

Hiei was stunned, in horror and in fear. Kurama had won, and yet the pain was still there. Kurama lay on the ground, his eyes closed, and blood dripping from his mouth. Nearby plants slowly started to grow gray, and some even died within a minute. “Kurama,” Hiei started, looking at the fallen demon.

“Kurama wake up, wake up,” Hiei pleaded, not accepting even the idea that he might not be able to awaken. Hiei pushed Kurama over, so his face lay staring upward toward the gloomy sky. He looked at Kurama, more fear and pain growing inside of him. Tears started welling up in the demon’s eyes. “Kurama…” He said, letting the tears slip down his face. One by one, they landed on top of Kurama’s pale and life-less face. They stayed like that for nearly 5 minutes, saying nothing. Hiei was beginning to realize that Kurama wasn’t coming back.

Hiei had one choice left. Carefully, he closed his eyes and focused, not his demon energy, but his life energy, into his hands. He knew what he had to do. His Jagan eye opened, helping him to focus his energy. He put his hands onto Kurama’s chest, over his heart, and said quietly, “A life for a life, isn’t that how it goes?”

And then he let go. His life energy was drained away from himself, and relocated into Kurama. Hiei felt as his pain, sadness, and fear was taken away, and he saw the color return to Kurama’s face. Hiei smiled, for the last time, as his vision became blurry. “Goodbye Kurama,” He said, before collapsing next to him.


End file.
